In collaboration with its French partner Agripower France, German manufacturer Weltec Biopower is currently building a biomethane plant for the Elivia Group. France‘s second-largest beef producer is headquartered in Le Lion-d‘Angers in the Pays de la Loire region, western France. At this location, the plant began operation in November 2025 near the company‘s own slaughterhouse and feed biomethane into the public gas grid. One of Elivia‘s goals is to significantly reduce its carbon emissions. With this investment of approximately $7 million, the French industrial and commercial company, which has a workforce of 2,700 and an annual sales volume of 152,000 tons of meat, highlights the importance of green energy sources.
Since its foundation in 2001, the Weltec Group from Vechta in Lower Saxony, Germany, has been contributing to the success of the energy transition. The specialist has developed into one of the world‘s leading providers for the construction and operation of biogas and biomethane plants. The group covers the entire biogas value chain, including the design, planning and setup of energy plants, services, sustainable utilization concepts for the output flows and ongoing or temporary plant operation—an area in which it has more than fifteen years of experience.
THE IMPORTANT ROLE OF BIOMETHANE
In France, biomethane plays an increasingly important role in decarbonizing the energy sector. By 2030, the share of biomethane in energy production is set to double. At present, about 670 plants feed 11 TWh of biomethane into the gas grid. Currently, it is being considered whether to raise the biomethane production target from 22 TWh to 44 TWh by 2030. Long-standing partners Weltec Biopower and Agripower are ready to support this goal. Over the past thirteen years, the cooperation has already yielded the successful rollout of twenty-five biogas projects.
In Lion-d‘Angers, biogas is produced from a mixture of slaughterhouse waste, fats, and sludge from the sewage treatment plant and animal by-products. The processing capacity of the slaughterhouse substrates thus totals 85 tons of raw material a day. This corresponds to an annual volume of approximately 26,000 tons. The raw materials are first hygienized using waste heat from the slaughterhouse. In total, about 2,500,000 standard cubic meters of biogas are converted into 1,700,000 standard cubic meters of processed biomethane, which Elivia feeds into the grid every year. This is enough for the yearly heat supply of about 1,600 households.
PRE-DIGESTION STORAGE
Prior to the digestion, the materials are stored in a storage tank, which is supplied by Weltec Biopower along with two pump stations in the container and the stainless-steel digesters. In the two stainless steel tanks—each 26.87 meters in diameter, 8.8 meters high, and with a capacity of 4,991 cubic meters—the agitators then ensure a homogeneous substrate mix for the biogas process. The digestate is used as high-quality agricultural fertilizer. The biogas produced is refined into biomethane using membrane gas processing.
The German manufacturer uses its web-based control software Weltec Control to ensure smooth synchronization of the plant. Using this tool, Elivia users can easily access relevant process data. All users can thus monitor and control the plant intuitively and from any location. This results in increased transparency, safety, and efficiency of work processes. With the user-friendly operation of the high-quality plant, France‘s second-largest beef producer can look to the future with confidence. Innovation and sustainability complement each other naturally at Elivia and now extend across the entire value chain, from animal husbandry and food safety to energy supply.
HIGH QUALITY WITHOUT THE HIGH COST
The establishment of individual, technically mature solutions with custom-tailored processes is one of the strengths of Weltec Biopower. Moreover, the use of stainless-steel technologies ensures flexible substrate input, quick and inexpensive assembly, and a consistently high-quality standard, regardless of the location. Following the go-live, Weltec can take care of the mechanical and biological service in order to ensure efficiency of the plants.
Apart from the entire biogas value chain, the portfolio also covers agricultural trade including transport, farm services and manure utilization. For Weltec, proximity to customers and investors is very important. These include businesses from industries such as agriculture, food, waste and wastewater. With its global sales and service network, the company has already installed more than 400 energy plants in twenty-six countries on five continents.
Weltec Biopower GmbH is one of the world’s leading enterprises in the field of stainless-steel biogas plant construction. The company has planned, developed, and built anaerobic digestion plants since 2001. Today, the medium-sized company has about eighty employees at the headquarters in Vechta, Germany, and has established more than 350 energy plants in twenty-five countries worldwide. The global distribution and service network spans six continents. The range of customers includes businesses from the agriculture, food, waste, and wastewater industries. For more information visit, www.weltec-biopower.com.